


Instruments of Chaos

by pissedofsandwich



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Post-CoLS, might be easier if i tag it as everyone, set in CoHF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 12:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/811712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pissedofsandwich/pseuds/pissedofsandwich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with, "Marry me today." Or, the one where Alec and Aline kicked ass in the Clave meeting. Or, basically, all of the official pairings cramped in one fic and caused chaos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Instruments of Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> posted this one on Tumblr, intended to lighten up my mood. apparently, a 500 words drabble can turn into a 3k words monster. hope it's not a disaster? (i can be found on tumblr: yesjayplease)

“Marry me today.”

The voice was purposeful, full of determination. The words were out before Luke even realized they were his. He watched as practically everyone in the meeting room freeze, pausing half-way out the door to gape at him, their eyes wide. He saw the Inquisitor narrow his eyes, whatever the Consul was saying cut off mid-sentence. It was late at night; Luke could see the moon outside, hanging in between the stars. The meeting had just ended, and the Consul was dismissing them when the rational part of Luke’s brain decided it was a good time to shut itself down and let the reckless, selfless part of his brain took over. The room was suddenly silent. Luke thought he could even hear the insects flying above their heads.

Luke hadn’t meant to say that. And now he was cursing himself for being stupid and inappropriate. He could spot Clary and Jace—they had been invited to the meeting for obvious reasons, although he could tell that both Jocelyn and Maryse weren’t really pleased with it—still seated together, wearing similar astonished look on their face, although the boy looked more amused than anything else. Clary brought her hand that wasn’t linked with Jace’s over her mouth and warily glanced over her mother, who was just getting up from seat, and was now staring at him with open mouth, looking confused and sad and surprised and happy at the same time.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” Robert murmured from Jocelyn’s right. Maryse gave him a stern look.

Everyone was staring at Jocelyn. It was obvious that the question—no, the statement—was directed to the red-haired woman. Jocelyn looked—was—dumbfounded. Luke spared a moment to note that this was the first time someone ever had her dumbfounded. He felt sickly proud.

“That was… unexpected.” Luke heard someone whisper. He was able to make out what everyone was saying, thanks to his werewolf super hearing.

“But, Helen, it’s also sweet and romantic,” an unmistakably female voice cooed. Isabelle. She wasn’t of age yet to join the meeting, but she came anyway. Scowling beside her was Alec, who gave her a stern look that matched Maryse’s. Simon made a face.

Luke averted his gaze, pointedly avoiding Jocelyn’s gaze. His eyes caught Magnus’s, who stood alone without companions, seeming to want to be as far as he could from Alec. His hands were folded across his chest, his eyebrows shot up. He’d been unwilling to attend this meeting. He didn’t even show up in Idris until several hours ago. Luke heard Jace decided to have a talk with him. He didn’t know what the blonde boy said, but this morning, the warlock showed up, even though he looked bored and annoyed and like he didn’t want to be here. His expression mirrored Jace’s; even from this distance, he could tell that Magnus was far more amused than surprised. His cat eyes were looking at him expectantly, challenge written on the slit pupils, as though he was asking, _‘How fast can you run, my friend?’_ Or in this case, _‘How fast can you go from a wise, respected werewolf representation to a hopeless-romantic werewolf?’_

Luke glared at him. If one could die from embarrassment, he’d probably be dead by now.

“I…” Jocelyn was at loss. It was also the first time Luke had ever seen her speechless since the day he confessed his feelings to her at Amatis’s living room.

He could practically hear what everyone was thinking. _Is she going to say no?_

Luke honestly hadn’t considered that possibility. Jocelyn was likely to say yes; the percentage was 90%. After all—before everything’s going to hell in a handbasket and Sebastian decided it would be fun to burn down the world—they were planning to get married. But given their situation right now, plus Luke’s terribly bad timing, Jocelyn could always change her mind. _What the hell was he thinking?_ Everyone was freaking out over Sebastian’s army of Dark Shadowhunters, and here he was, proposing Jocelyn in front of hordes of Shadowhunters—and a few Downworlders.

He wanted to know if Magnus had a spell strong enough to catapult him back in time. He would be more than willing to pay him with everything he owned if it meant he could fix this.

And the silence kept getting more and more awkward.

“It’s like Alec all over again,” Maryse mumbled, loud enough for him to hear. Robert tightened his jaw, but he didn’t say anything. Luke wondered if she was talking about the Fearless Rune incident or the passionate kiss in the Hall of Accords. He eyed Magnus—Downworlders had excellent hearing—out of curiosity, and didn’t miss the way his expression hardened. He wondered what happened to them.

And the scolded himself for worrying over Magnus’s and Alec’s love life when his was no better.

Jocelyn and he had not been fighting or broken up, but there was something definitely off about Jocelyn. She cried more often and was always zoning off. She also looked tired, even after sleeping for eight hours straight.

Luke was aware this was hardly the time. He blamed his irrational half for this.

“Luke,” Jocelyn began. Luke waited, but she didn’t continue. She was probably trying to find the kindest words to explain to him why she couldn’t marry him, or contemplating whether or not she should lie. Something inside Luke snapped. _Well,_ he thought bitterly, s _he didn’t have to now._

His mind took him back to when Valentine proposed to Jocelyn, many, many years ago. He was reminded of how Jocelyn’s face lighted up instantly and she all but squealed (Jocelyn never squealed) and jumped into Valentine’s arms, repeating ‘yes yes yes’ like it was a prayer. He knew it wasn’t a fair comparison. After all, when it happened, they weren’t marching into a war in which half of them would possibly not make out alive. But he couldn’t help himself. If Jocelyn said yes, it was perhaps because she was too kind to say no, because she didn’t want to humiliate him after everything he’d done for her wrecked little family. He suddenly felt so worn out and exhausted. He sighed heavily, peering at Jocelyn through his glasses.

“Jocelyn,” he said slowly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to lie. I understand.”

Jocelyn blinked. “What do you mean, I don’t have to lie?”

“You don’t have to say yes,” Luke went on. There were a lot of things he wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them. This was bad enough. He didn’t want to worsen the situation or embarrass her more. “I understand—“

“Luke, shut up, _shut up_ ,” Jocelyn said. “What do you mean, _I don’t have to say yes_? I do. I do _want_ to marry you.” Her voice quivered a little at the end. If Luke didn’t know better, he would have guessed she was crying.

But as Luke looked up into her eyes, he was startled to find that she was, in fact, crying. At least her eyes were glossy. Now it was his turn to look dumbfounded. “You do want to marry me?”

Clary looked like she was ready to knife someone. Luke could hear Jace snicker quietly, and Magnus was smirking. Jocelyn looked incredulous. “What are you talking about? I thought I made that clear when I said yes the first time you asked me. And it wasn’t like we canceled our wedding. It’s just being postponed—“

“I thought you feel indebted,” Luke confessed, cutting her off. “I thought you only agreed because you didn’t have another choice—“

“Are you dense?” Jocelyn cried. “I love you, Luke. I always have.”

“I thought you changed your mind,” Luke said.

“I didn’t,” Jocelyn said. “I never would.” And then she flung herself at him and kissed him full on the mouth. Luke staggered back, startled, but he managed to steady himself and kissed her back with equal longing, his hands buried in her hair. He was suddenly conscious of people around them when he pulled away. Color flooded up Jocelyn’s face as she let go of Luke.

Luke was speechless.

Jia Penhallow cleared her throat. All eyes were on her. “While it’s all very…romantic,” she sounded like she wanted to use something a lot bizarre than that, “I have to— _again_ —remind you that we’re at war. This is hardly the time for such ceremony, especially since—“

Luke never found out what she was going to say, because right at that moment, Clary spoke up. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said. Once again she was the girl standing up at the dais, presenting a rune no one had ever seen before and pleading them to _please, please, let met Mark you._ Jia looked at her with fury. It wasn’t against the Law to cut the Council mid-sentence, but it was certainly not polite. Then again, Clary was not famous for being incredibly polite. “I mean, we’re all going to die.”

“Clary,” Jocelyn hissed.             

“Have a little faith,” Jace said cheerily.

“It’s true,” Isabelle shrugged easily. “It’s either we die, or we become a Dark Shadowhunter. Which, by the way, I think is worse than dying. Tonight’s like, our last night on earth. So why don’t we spend it by doing something we’ve always wanted, but never got the chance to?” She cast a tentative glance at Simon, who returned her look with a meaningful one.

“You’re not even allowed to be here,” Jia pointed out.

“Clary and Jace are here,” Isabelle retorted.

“They are _invited_ ,” Jia ground out.

“I agree with her,” Aline said suddenly, cutting off whatever remark Isabelle had. Luke could see Alec breathing a sigh of relief. Jia looked taken aback. “Why do we have to spend the whole night arguing over some stupid shit when we can do something more... productive?”

“Aline,” Patrick looked horrified.

“There’s something I’ve been dying to tell you,” Aline went on, ignoring the horrified looks her parents sent her. She braced her hands on the table and straightened up, looking at every single eye in the room, which was focused on her. She took a deep breath. “ _Fuck_ you all,” she said.

“ _Aline_!” Jia looked like she wanted to strangle her.

“What?” The black-haired girl appeared indifferent. “Okay, maybe not all of you—but those of you who hate me. You know who you are.”

“Stop _right there_ before I—“

“Before you kill me? Don’t worry, Mom, Sebastian’s army will do that for me tomorrow,” Aline stated with a cruel casualty. Jia looked stricken. Luke couldn’t blame her. _Teenagers these days,_ Luke thought. Clary had a bad temper, but she had never been this bold. Luke saw her exchanging unreadable looks with Isabelle. She and Isabelle had reached that stage in friendship when they could practically read each other’s mind and finish each other’s sentence. It was kind of strange to witness. Luke had never thought Clary would get along with a girl like Isabelle—not that the Lightwood girl was a bad influence. Well, not really.

A girl with curly blonde hair reached for Aline’s hand. She murmured something to Aline. Her words fell to deaf ears. “I’m not the nicest Shadowhunter in the whole word,” Aline said. “I realize that. I’m a bitch most of the time. I realize many people don’t like me.” Clary ducked her head. “You don’t like me because of that? Well, good for you, man. I respect your opinion.” Luke had an idea where this was going. Jia burrowed her face in her hands. Aline squeezed Helen’s hand. “But if you hate me just because I love Helen, then fuck you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you would really like that.” Luke heard a girl about Alec’s age muttered sarcastically. He saw something flash in Aline’s eyes and he realized he wasn’t the only one who had heard her.

Aline’s eyes seized the girl up and down. She had her trademark bitch face on. The girl, Luke realized, was Meredith Highmore, daughter of Eleanor Highmore. Luke knew her mom in high school, and she wasn’t really the epitome of pleasant company. She lost both her sisters and her husband in the Uprising, and she blamed—the remaining of—the Circle for it. The Highmores he knew were strict and incredibly old-fashioned. He bet that hadn’t changed much. Luke noticed how Meredith squirmed under Aline’s scrutinizing gaze and couldn’t hide a grin.

“Nope,” Aline announced, popping the _p_. “I wouldn’t like _that_.”

Isabelle cackled.

Meredith looked offended. “Oh, shut it,” she was clearly irritated. “It’s just a phase. You’ll get over her”—he jabbed a finger at the curly blonde, who, after squinting his eyes, Luke realized was Helen Blackthorn (how could he miss those faerie eyes?)—“and fawn over some trashy male Shadowhunter the next day. Get over it.”

“Stop it,” Jia ordered.

Of course, no one listened.

Luke chanced a glance at Magnus. The warlock was grinning. Luke had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

Another Shadowhunter, an old one, apparently, stood up. “I’ve been gay for 56 years,” he said. Luke recognized his face, but he didn’t remember his name. He didn’t remember him having a wife or a child. Meredith looked flabbergasted. “Sure, it’s just a _phase_.”

Aline looked like she was refraining from giving the old man a high-five. Luke had a prediction things were going to get interesting.

“Please, it’s your _choice_ ,” Bradley Lightbody scoffed. “You could’ve chosen to be normal if you wanted to. You didn’t.”

“You think it’s a _choice_?” Alec raged. Luke was quite surprised to see him speaking. He didn’t know the boy that well, but he knew Alec was the calm after the storm, quiet and collected and kind and delicate, despite his height and strength. He was like the steady glowing star to Jace’s burning supernova. “You think we woke up and morning and decided it’s _cool_ to be gay?” The look on his face was enough to make Bradley quaver. “Okay, so if orientation is a choice, choose to be gay, right now.”

Bradley looked incredulous. “No.”

“Why not?” Alec demanded.

“Because I don’t find men attractive,” Bradley responded, giving Alec a look as if he were talking to a five years old boy.

“So _choose_ to find them attractive,” Alec challenged.

Bradley looked around and gulped. “I can’t,” he said.

Alec’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “What is it? You _can’t_?”

Bradley opened his mouth and promptly closed it.

Aline burst into a happy peal of laughter. She bumped her fist with Alec, who tried—and failed—to hide his smug smirk. Isabelle gave Bradley and Meredith a tight smile. They returned it with a disgusted look. It only widened her smile. “At least they’re getting some,” the Shadowhunter pursed her lips, “and you _don’t_.”

“You’re dating a Downworlder,” Meredith bit out hatefully.

Bradley faked a cough, “ _Slut_.”

Jace clenched his fist. “Hey, watch it,” he said murderously. Luke felt—rather than watched—Maryse and Robert tense from across the table.

“Do you know that,” a voice drawled from the front of the room, “back in the old times, ‘slut’ is a word used to describe a girl whose room is a mess?” Magnus had his head propped on his palm, and he was looking at Bradley with his eyebrows raised. When Bradley didn’t answer, his smirk grew wider. He threw a wink at Isabelle.

“So, yeah,” Isabelle waved her hand elegantly. “I’m a slut.”

Simon—who had been dragged to the whole thing by Isabelle—stood up and gave them a standing ovation. Soon, Clary and Jace followed. “This is the best argument ever,” he claimed, amazed, “Team Good rocks.”

Luke wasn’t sure what a Team Good was, but he couldn’t agree more with Simon. _Things did get interesting, indeed._

The whole room was silent.

Isabelle bowed down the way actresses would after presenting a very good play. (Or, in Clary’s words, the way Katniss did after sticking her arrow in a pig in the _Hunger Games)_ “You’re welcome.” She grabbed Simon’s wrist and proceeded to exit the room. After a startling moment, Helen braced her hands on Aline’s shoulder and began to lead her out of the room, but not after giving her a quick kiss on the lips, with Alec behind them, still looking smug. Clary and Jace followed them suit, laughing about God knew what, and soon the troops were gone.

“The happy couples,” Magnus grumbled, almost inaudible at anyone but him. “I hate the happy couples.” 

Jia cleared her throat, clearly not hearing Magnus. She turned her eyes at Luke and Jocelyn. “So,” she tried to regain her grace. “What about that wedding?”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i could always write what happens after the meeting, you know... but i need encouragements ;) *winks* lol jk. thanks for reading!


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